THE FAROE ISLANDS (PART 3)
After enjoying the comfort of our bed in the camper truck (tent camping is nice, but level of comfort is not so high), we left the small fishing town of Sandur and the island of Sandoy. Driving back through one of the amazing sub-sea tunnels to the main island Streymoy. Since all the island are like long steep mountain ranges, most of the roads run alongside these mountains along the sea.
The Faroes have made an impressive network of roads, mountain tunnels and subsea tunnels during the last 60 years, replacing a number of ferries and upgrading the mostly unpaved narrow roads.
When you drive on the roads on the islands, you always see another island on the other side along with the small pittoreske villages. Between the islands are fjord like waterbodies, with an open end on both sides, connecting it to the Atlantic ocean.
Its was also for us the first time to see the large salmon pens, where the Faroes Salmon is farmed. We took a small coffee break along the main road overlooking the water channel called Sundini with a view on the island of Eysturoy.
From here we continued on our road and headed to one of the famous scenic roads of the Faroes, this one runs through a beautiful valley. The road is very narrow and built with hard material on the turf grounds. A little bit off the road and you go down and get stuck in the soggy, swamp like fields along the road. There are still many one lane roads on the islands and you cannot just go off the road, you have to find a lay-by, in case you encounter upcoming traffic. The locals are very much used to that and they know exactly where the lay-by’s are, so that traffic flows generally smoothly. However, with an increasing number of tourist rental cars, traffic becomes heavier and it’s therefor often harder to find a lay-by in time. Big buses and trucks also use these roads, so sooner or later these roads will have to be adjusted to full two lane roads.
The road ended at the small village of Saksun, which is located at the end of a long gorge. On one side you have the gorge and on the other side the valley we came through. It’s one of the popular tourist spots, we found out. There are two dedicated parking spots outside both sides of the village and they were all ready pretty full when we arrived. We drove up to the higher (old) part of the village on (again), a narrow one lane road. Although almost full, we were able to squeeze the truck in a nice corner of the parking, and as happens often, with many spectators admiring the arrival and movements of the truck. As one of the very few large expedition trucks around here, the truck always stands out between the many white 2×4 motorhomes.
In Saksun is a very old farm, consisting of a number of buildings, which have been completely restored and houses a museum, or is actually an open air museum (like the one we saw nearby the capital). They did a real nice job bringing this piece of Faroe history alive again. Outside was a small food truck (the first tourist/visitor food establishment we found outside the capital). And wow, the were selling real fresh local lamb-chops. That was a great treat for us, since we love lamb chops!
The sun was shining, the nice weather brought a lot of people to this nice little village. Besides the old farm, there is a very cute stand alone little church in the middle on top of the end of the gorge. Unfortunately, due to disrespectful behavior of certain tourists/visitors on the graveyard of the little church, signs were placed, forbidding people to enter both the church and the graveyard. It’s very regrettable, that due to misbehavior of a few (often so-called influencers and Instagrammers who ignore local rules or disrespect certain sites or the local population), that others suffer from the consequences or give tourism a bad reputation. We saw later that the police was called in, because a locale farmer, annoyed by disrespectful behavior of tourists had smashed the window of their vehicle, a rare situation on the islands. However, a few days later we were informed that the same farmer, also shoots drones from tourists out of the sky!.
From the old farm we walked down into the gorge where you reach a lake which is connected to an inlet from the ocean. You walk along a beach inside the gorge, where you find some other old farm house along the shores of a lake. There are even small sand dunes in the gorge flanked by the high steep cliffs. Beautiful! Midway the gorge on the beach, we found the carcass of a pilot whale, the head chopped off and visible scars most probably caused by a ship’s propellor.
Reaching the end of gorge, we saw the mighty ocean, which started to push its water into the gorge because of the tide. The beaches started to get submerged, so we headed back to avoid to be isolated and blocked off. We had to walk pretty fast!
The parking started to get empty. The museum and the food truck were closed already and the calm returned. We decided to stay right there and camp where we were parked, nobody made a problem of it, despite it not being an official campsite. (Which is the strict rule on the Faroes).
Another well known village is Tjornuvik, very idilic situated with a view on the famous two-pilar rocks close to the coast. Like so many things in the Faroes, they are the source of a legend. The old Faroe islanders had many stories which are related to the sea.
Due to the popularity the one lane mountain road towards Tjornyvik, had traffic regulated by a traffic light, otherwise, traffic would get stuck due to the absence of lay-by’s.
On arrival the small parking was full and there was no space for big trucks like us. So with some difficulty we could turn around and we drove away. Sometimes, our size has its a disadvantage.
Since we had driven almost all the roads of the main island by now, we drove to the next, over the bridge connecting Streymoy with Eysturoy. Arriving in the little town of Eidi, we searched for the official campsite, since we couldn’t find a suitable wild spot. We ended up on an former soccer field with a green carpet! It was located at the end of a small valley, near a rocky beach, which was protected by a man made sand dune (it can storm a lot here, with big waves rolling into the valley). There were already a few campers and a number of fixed caravans used as holiday homes for the Faroe people. A lot of them stay in the country during the summer holiday.
We set up camp and utilized our outdoor kitchen again for some great hamburgers that evening!
A few Faroe children who stayed in one of the caravans, came to visit us. One girl had observed our camper truck and had made a very nice and detailed drawing of it. She was rightfully very proud of it and we thanked her for it. Like all kids (and a lot of the older people on the islands) see spoke English well. It’s taught at school starting at a young age. Besides Danish and English, the Faroe people have their own native language. A language from the middle ages.
Another beautiful, small, scenic road brought us to another cute village, the village of Gjogv. Winding roads through the hills and valleys go across the north part of the island. Amazing views made us go off the road on a small hill next to the road on a path hardend with gravel. To turn I went of the gravel part and sank right away with one back tire more then half a meter in the soft muddy grass. Engaging low gear and 4×4 made me get the truck back on the gravel. It was a lesson!Gjogv is also a popular destination. The village is at the end of a long valley and has a small gorge which was used in the past as the harbor, or more a landing and hauling area for the small rowing fishing boats. There are some nice old grass roofed houses and in the center of the village, a small stream has been turned in a little water adventure park for the children. Little boats made out of two halves of a plastic drum, are used to do some “wild water” rafting under the watchful eyes of parents who, with cans of coffee relaxed in the sun on nearby benches. A rare sight in a place, where there are hardly any sunny days, let alone, some warm temperatures. Everybody wanted to enjoy this sunshine to the fullest!
A small coffee shop with a terrace was the hangout for visitors, who did the 60 minute hike up the hill which overlooked the area. That the Faroe people are not completely ready yet for tourism was quite clear in the coffee shop. The coffee maker was down already for some days. At least the guy had ice cream available, which we did not have for a while, so this was even better! Our hike went even further then the original one, and we found a waterfall, which seemed to be spitting out water just from somewhere on the cliff side, straight into the ocean. An amazing sight!
We walked through the village. So many young women with strollers….they even park them outside their house and leave babies in it, and the laundry on top, to dry.
A small statue in a little park close to the church, resembling a mother with her two young children, was a tribute of all the men who were lost at sea while fishing. A plaques with a long list of names of all the men who never returned, showed us the other side of this cute little village. These people’s parents, grand parents and great grand parents, didn’t live in luxury. Fishing was not a choice, it was a way of survival with all risks involved, knowing that death was always close by.
Driving back through the valley towards the village of Elduvik. Here was a so called “official” campsite. A parking lot near a rocky beach in the middle of the village, which even had electricity hook-ups. We had a great spot and there were only three other campers.
A walk through the village brought us to a little cove, which used to be the landing and hauling place in the old days (again) for the small rowing fishing boats). It was also a perfect place to take a dip in the sea, which we hadn’t done yet (water temperature is not really tempting).
We rushed back to the truck, got our swimming stuff and towels and……some hard liquor to warm up after the dip in the water.
With the sun hanging low and shining into the small cove, the wind gone and all by ourselves, we did the daring thing of just jumping in the ice cold water, which if I stayed in too long, would have given me frostbite for sure. We jumped in even twice and after remembering having seen the shark caught by fishermen a couple of days ago, we realized, they (the sharks) share actually the same waters we were just jumping in…..
Climbing back on the slippery and barnacles ridden steps, we covered us with our Wolo towels, sat on a natural rock bench and enjoyed some really nice Dutch orange flavored jenever. The sun was doing its work as well, warming us up, while we were watching a stern (sea bird) fending off intruders, getting too close to her nest, opposite of us in the cove.
Back at the truck, our neighbors, who were traveling Iceland in a nice 4×4 camper van, started a conversation. We met them already a few days before at another location. A lovely couple from the south of The Netherlands. They were doing the opposite, they had visited Iceland first before going to the Faroes. Knowing we were going after the Faroes to Iceland, they gave us their logbook to read through to get some tips and advices for Iceland.
During the night, the weather changed dramatically. Storm and rain made the truck and the unit shake. The next morning it was dry, but cloudy, windy and a lot colder. We invited our neighbors to come over for coffee. We had a nice chit chat. It’s so nice to have some fellow travellers come over once in while, people who decided to live on a different speed and have nice stories to tell.
When they left, we also packed up and headed for Klaksvik, the second largest town of the Faroes after Torshavn. We made a small detour to visit the fishing village of Oyndarfjordur, where a large salmon processing plant is located, opposite a big waterfall. Waterfalls are all over on the Faroes, it rains a lot and there are enough hills for the water the run off, especially the ones with cliffs.
To get to Klaksvik, there is another sub-sea-toll-tunnel, which starts at Leirvik. A real fishing town, with fish processing factories and even a company which harvests sea grass or plants, that are dried and exported (often used for sushi rolls). Like most villages and towns in the Faroes there is an old part which is maintained and kept as it was, as part of the heritage of the islands. Also here was a nice old part of town with a small museum (though, closed because of lack of staff. Even in the Faroes finding staff seems to be an issue).
A brand new club house was under construction on a prominent spot in the harbor for the rowing club of the town. As mentioned before, the rowing with old style fishing boats (which are still made locally in a traditional way), is also a part of the heritage of the Faroes.
Through the next sub-sea tunnel, we arrived in Klaksvik. The entrance into Klaksvik is nice. The town is spread over the slopes of the hills surrounding the fjord in which the town is located. Klaksvik is the main fishing port for the Faroes. Here the largest trawlers are stationed, which go fishing for months at a time in the Barents Sea, coming back with tons of fish (mainly Cod). Almost all people living in and around Klaksvik are working directly and indirectly in the fishing industry. Most of the money of the islands is made here and you can see the wealth in the houses, shops and cars. There is a competition between Klaksvik and Thorshvn and the people of Klaksvik seem not very fond of the people of Torshavn (where the Government and Government services are located). In Klaksvik they make the money and in Torshavn they (the bureaucrats) spend it! That is what we were explained.
Parking was a bit limited at first sight, but we found a spot. Nearby was a tourist information office where we asked for the location of supermarkets and places were we could buy an extra gas tank for our camping burner. We also wanted to know where the ferry landing was for the ferry service to the island of Kalsoy, an island we for sure wanted to visit.
We got some fresh stuff from the supermarket, walked back to the truck and went for the second mission, the gas bottle. Unfortunately, the store didn’t have the right gas bottle for us.
On the way walking back, a car suddenly drove onto the walk-way, cutting us off and a lady jumped out of the car and started calling us. In most other countries I would have thought I was getting robbed at gunpoint now, but not so in the Faroes.
And it turned out it was the lady we met at the line up for the ferry in Denmark almost two weeks ago. At that time she really stood out while standing next to her car, eyes closed and face up to the sun, like trying to get the last pieces of sun shine before going home. I had at that time noticed the number plate of her car, the first Faroe number plate I had ever seen. We had a nice conversation at that time.
She recognized us while we were walking, and came straight to us. Her husband joined and they asked us if we wanted to visit their home, to “see Faroe family life”. This was hard to refuse, we like it a lot. So we set up an appointment for the next day, late afternoon.
Since we had done what had to be done, we drove to the island of Kunoy. A long strip island, with only one small village on each side. A long one lane cause way connects the island with the island of Bordoy and to get to the other side of Kunoy, you have to drive through a narrow, one lane, dark tunnel, with a few small lay-by’s inside.
Getting out of the tunnel, you drive along the slope on a mountain ridge towards the village with the same name, Kunoy. Parking was so limited, we had to turn around again and drove back towards the tunnel. Just before the tunnel there was a parking, where we parked the truck for the night. Just after we sat down, a car stopped and to tourists from Malaysia asked if they could make some pictures. We started a conversation and they seemed very enthusiastic about our journey. I asked them yo come inside for a coffee, which they enthusiastically agreed upon. They were interesting people who loved to travel to the colder countries on the planet, since Malaysia is such a hot and humid place to live.
Before diner, we walked back to the village, had a look and had a nice conversation with a local, who explained us a lot about the fishing industry in Klaksvik. When we returned, a bag was hanging on our steps. It turned out the Malaysian tourist came back after we went for a walk. They left a bag with a nice variety of food and sweets from Malaysia for us and a note, saying that they appreciated having a coffee and a talk with us and that we would be welcome when we visit Malaysia.
Driving back to the island of Bordoy the next day, we passed Klaksvik and visited Nordoyri, where we did a nice short hike.
Now it was time now to visit our new friends – Malan and Jan Erik – they live on the highest row of homes, overlooking the harbor of Klaksvik. A steep road with hair-pain bends, brought us to their house, which luckily had ample parking. Malan is hairdresser and has a very nice and cozy hair salon at home, hence the ample parking. Jan Erik works as a chief mechanic on a huge fishing trawler. They have three children, all living close-by. Jan Erik works on a schedule of often 3 months at sea, and three months off, so for Malan I am sure it is nice to have her children nearby as well as having her hair salon at home. Malan is also a very good chef, she proved that this evening! She made an amazing cod-dish, with pineapple, cheese, herbs etc. Fish is a main dish in the Faroes of course, and they have developed interesting and tasteful ways to prepare it.
We had many and long conversations. We learned that family, friends and neighbors are very important for them, which is part of the culture of the Faroes. They have always lived remotely, far from mainland Europe and had to depend on each other. Denmark, the “motherland” was, and still is an important extension of Faroe life, in ways that Faroe kids go there for further study, people can have extended medical treatment and there is financial support from Denmark.
From their three huge tripple glass windows in the living room, we had a great view over the harbor with the large trawlers and small boats going in and out, and we could see the whole town. A never boring sight! We realized, that we had lots in common – as people from different parts of the world. Work, children, leisure time activities and the healthy competition with other parts of the country (like the rivalry between the two big towns in the Faroes). The Faroes as a country, had just beaten Finland in the Uefa soccer competition (soccer is a popular sport in the Faroes), so soccer was another connection we had. What a great evening we had!
Just outside of town, near a bay, was a parking, where we parked for the night. Actually we kept the truck there for two nights, since we were going for a “weekend trip” to another island again.
This time we took the bicycles and loaded our camping gear on the bicycles the next day. From the parking area it was a short ride to the ferry harbor, from where we would go to the island of Kalsoy. While waiting for the ferry, our friend, Malan, popped up again! Now she asked us if we wanted to get on their boat instead of the ferry. They would take us over to Kalsoy. Well again, an offer to good to say no to, of course. This was very nice!
Jan Erik and Malan have a nice fishing/pleasure boat with a spacious cabin and a comfortable deck at the back. The weather was sunny and warm. The bikes fitted easily on the boat and after Jan Erik was sure about the right timing (the tide, current and wind), we set off. First a small tour through the harbor, showing a beautiful waterfront sports complex with a modern gym (Jan Erik as a former rower, goes often to row in the gym to stay in shape), and other interesting buildings.
The crossing was smooth and easy, the sea was calm and the ladies enjoyed the sunny deck, while I had some nice talking with Jan Erik about the sea, fishing and boats. Arriving at the small harbor (which was under construction, hence no tourist vehicles were allowed on the ferry), we quickly tied up the boat and unloaded the bicycles. We said good bye to our friends and set off to ride our bicycles on a long road (about 30km) along the coast (two days before we were walking and driving the truck on the island opposite Kalsoy).
Kalsoy has four villages along the only road, a fifth one was evacuated after a big landslide. (Seing where most of these villages are located, also on other islands, I would not sleep easy looking at the steep cliffs behind the village). Biking with full camping gear on a bicycle was new for us, but it went pretty well. The sun was shining, we had the wind in the back and the scenery was beautiful. Except for an occasional car and a few big buses (most visitors come for a day or half a day with the ferry, jump in the bus and drive to the end of the island, to see the two main attractions).
People had warned us beforehand that the road also had 4 narrow one lane tunnels with almost no lights. Not only that, the way up, has a steep incline.
For safety reasons we had put bright lights on our helmets and lots of reflectors on our bags, helmet and clothing. The first tunnel was indeed very steep and about 2km long. Biking in the dark and cold tunnel, with no ventilation was heavy. We even had to jump aside to let a bus narrowly pass us. Getting out of this tunnel was like the world opened up. The sun shining and the warmth embracing us. Going down through a small valley and up again we entered the next tunnel, a bit shorter but not less steep. Also the 3rd was tough and the lack of clean oxygen didn’t help either. But then we reached the 3rd village, were a small campsite is located.
The camp site offered free internet and with this, we could make a booking and payment to camp for the night. We were the only once with a young French couple and we found super clean bathrooms and a fully equipped kitchen. Camping doesn’t have to be a survival story! This was about 5 star!
After setting up our tent, we walked into the village which was below the campsite. The village of Mikladalour is nice small village with just a handful of residents. However, it has a very, very nice little bar/restaurant, on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the old landing for the fishing boats. It’s called The Edge. On arrival, they were just closing up, since the last bus was there and picked up the last visitors for the last ferry. Since we were the only visitors remaining on the island for the night, they opened up again and still served us some drinks and cake.
What the village makes very worthwhile to visit is the bronze statue of the Seal Woman. A beautiful statue placed on a rock near the landing. It is one of the well known sagas/legends of the Faroes. It’s about seals, who come on land one day per year, take off their seal skin and became humans. Its about, love, hate and revenge. It is in fact a very sad story, and it is definitely worth it to look it up and read it yourself as I will not reveal it here now. It has an unexpected, sad, ending. As I said already, many legends of the Faroes are related to the sea.
After the short visit to the village and The Edge, we went back to the camp and prepared dinner. Since all visitors left the island and the weather was so good, we decided to bike to the end of the island after dinner and to visit the famous lighthouse and the tomb stone of James Bond.
I thought to have found a short cut to the main road (the village lays below in the valley at the coast and the main road is pretty high up), but instead we had to walk with our bikes through the grassy fields. But, of course we made it and ended up close to the entrance of the 4th tunnel, which turned out to be the longest one (2.5km). Luckily the incline was very moderate, so we were out of the tunnel fast.
The last village after this tunnel was even smaller and had a cute souvenir and ticket shop. Yes, we had to pay a substantial amount to do a hike to the lighthouse. There were still a few visitors (Chinese), who just came back from the hike and had to be rushed by one of the locals in a pick-up, back to the ferry.
All by ourselves (during the day there can be 100 to 500 people at the same time doing the hike), we walked up a steep hill, which at times was muddy. A new wide path with gravel was under construction, showing that the number of visitors is on the rise. Since the last James Bond movie (No Time to Die), where Bond died at one of the most scenic cliffs of the Faroes,Instagrammers, Bond fans, influencers and others flog to the side, to see and make pictures. Especially since some locals came up with the brilliant idea to place a tombstone for James Bond near the cliff.
Before Bond, the side was already well known for being the side of one of the most iconic lighthouses in the world and the cliffs around it.
After a good one hour hike we reached the tombstone, which was taken over by some sheep, who seem to miss James Blond so much! Of course we had to do our photo shoot as well, especially since we were not surrounded by the crowd! It was only us and the sheep…..
The light house was about 200 meters away from the tombstone, walking upwards on a narrowing ridge. Reaching the light house, a mother sheep was calling desperately for her young which crossed a knife edge ridge to a small plateau on a rock. We sat next to her, while she looked at us as if she wanted our help. Luckily, the young made it back to her and she calmed down and the peace and quiet returned.
The sky was clear and the sun was going to set and we took the moment, to just sit, relax and watch the sun, sea, cliffs and the birds flying in front of the cliffs. The view from the lighthouse is one of the most spectacular we had ever seen. The sea was dead calm and we felt like being alone on the planet. It was like nothing bad was happening in the world, that the world was just peaceful an beautiful.
We waited and waited, but the sun never went fully down…..it stopped! We knew it, we heard about it, that the sun doesn’t go down in the summer in the North and that it wouldn’t get dark, but never really realized how that in reality looks like. The sun even moves sidewards and then goes up again. It doesn’t line up with my common sense, but it was the reality of nature.
Without a complete sunset, we hiked back, jumped on the bicycles, had to do a steep climb up the road towards the tunnel and returned to the camp at 1 o’clock at night (while it was still light). We took a shower and had some hot chocolate after that. At 2.30 (still light) we went in the tent to sleep, quite exhausted after a day full of exercise and spectacular views.
Sleeping in a small tent is still not my favorite and despite being tired, I woke up early.
We showered, dressed, had our breakfast with home made sandwiches, some tea and fruit and started packing up. We did a last walk to a small man made forest about a kilometer from the village. It was one of these unique small forests, pine kind of trees, planted by the Faroe people, to get some trees back on the island. It had a small walking path, passing a little pond, a small stream and it was for a small moment like you were in a different world, a fairytale world. For the village people and the children a nice small getaway park.
The ride back through the three tunnels was fun, since we were going down hill with some speed (through dark tunnels). It was like being in an amusement park. Not far from the ferry harbor, was a small natural pool on a hill slope where we had a small picnic after the ride back.
We were in time to catch an earlier ferry than planned. In the meantime several busses came back with visitors who arrived in the morning and did the James Bond hike. We felt so luckily to have done the hike all by ourselves the night before.
The ferry landed and even more visitors arrived than were leaving with us. The harbor master, who gave us coffee when we arrived before the crowds came, explained about the extension works of the harbor for a bigger ferry boat. He was not so happy about it, since it would bring more tourist vehicles to the island, with its one road and four one-lane tunnels. The busses work perfect he said and I had to agree with him.
Back on the harbor of Klaksvik, we treated ourselves on something we were looking forward to for a while, Fish and Chips made of fresh cod straight from the sea. A fish stall with a tent and some benches outside, was the only such place in the harbor and we looked at it already when we first arrived in Klaksvik. And oh yes, nice big pieces of cod baked in fresh oil and well marinated, together with a cold Faroes brewed beer. It are the small things in life, which can mean so much!
Satisfied after a successful camping weekend, we returned to the truck. Time to unpack the bags and store everything away, including the bikes. We are well organized and it took us not long before we were ready to start the truck engine again. We had time left for the day and drove to the other side of Bodoy, through a brand new mountain tunnel. At the end we made a turn into a scenic road leading to the small village of Muli, which we could not reach with the truck due to weight restrictions.
Along the scenic road we found some space to park the truck for the night, overlooking the fjord with again many salmon pens.
The island of Vidoy was the last island we could visit in the north east, by truck. The other two islands Fugloy and Svinoy were only reachable by passenger ferry. Svinoy with one village has no roads at all.
We drove around the island of Vidoy, but due to the heavy fog, couldn’t really see much. Since we had not so many days left, we decided to drive back towards Torshavn and visit one more island, the island of Vagar. That is the island where the Faroes only airport is located. It was the longest day drive we could make on the Faroes, going through several tunnels. We then realized how these tunnels had changed life for the Faroe people. Traveling time was slashed from a day to an hour or two or three. Many ferries became absolute, which were limited in capacities, speed and weather conditions.
Driving almost to the end of the only road on the island, we passed along a fjord with an even more stunning view we had seen on Kalsoy. The weather was to be given credit for the enhanced color effects we saw.
Small rocky islands sticking out of the ocean like columns, an island -like cut in half -, nature’s unbelievable creations, it all gave us ever lasting impressions of the islands.
A piece of land which was the parking for a hiking trail over a hill, became our last camping spot on the Faroe islands. With a great view over a fjord, which was also the route for the incoming planes to the Faroes airport. We set out for an evening hike over a hill, which would end in a small village. We could not reach this village with our truck, due to the height restrictions of the tunnel leading to the village. But this hike would take us there.
Climbing over the hill, the views over the islands, with the clouds, the sun and the sea, where spectacular. Reaching the top, we overlooked a small green valley, which ended on a cliff where the small village was located. A big waterfall poured its water over the cliff into the ocean. It all looked so perfect and peaceful, and you tend to forget, that most of the days, it’s windy (actual more stormy) and rainy, with cloudy skies, making the sceneries less attractive.
The next day, we decided to stay another day. We did some laundry, maintenance and paperwork and in the afternoon we did the same hike again, because it was just so beautiful. During the day and the hikes, we met many people from many different countries. Our camper truck always gives a reason for people to start talking with us, about the truck but also about our world journey.
Last day on the Faroes, we did some last groceries shopping, filled up the fuel tanks (Iceland almost charges twice the amount for diesel). We visited the oldest constant inhabitant wooden house in the world (Kirkjuboargardur) with adjacent to it, the ruines of the middle age Cathedral of Magnus. Imagine that in the Middle Ages, somebody had the great idea of building a cathedral on a cold, wet, windy and very far away island!
Back in the capital Torshavn, we went straight to the harbor for the line up for the ferry to Iceland. We were not the first ones, but still well in time. We had to kill some hours, so we went to to harbor front, where the sun was shining and the only two terraces were packed with visitors an locals alike.
Boarding the ferry went fast and organized. We had a great time in the Faroe Islands. Stunning nature, sweet and friendly people and still not overrun by the masses. Iceland will be a different experience, we think.
But the Faroe Islands will always have a special place in our memories, if not for the natural beauty, the people, it will be the amazing legends which passed over time from generation to generation, some even immortalized in visible statues like the Nix.
